In 1984, Abelson and Sussman brought up an intriguing idea: ``An exquisite engineering art has been developed balancing between multiplicity of function and density of devices. In any event, hardware always operates at a level more primitive than that at which we care to program'' \cite[1]{sicp}. Today, software operates at a level more primitive than at which (some) care to program.


More specifically, aspects of digital publishing concerning things like the user interface are also at a level more primitive than at which some care to program. If we simply look at blogging platforms or Facebook, we can see that people like to ``publish'', but don't want to have to worry about creating the user interface. Especially with books, it is the \emph{text} that is creative, the layout is expected. 


\TeX\ has already been the de facto standard for publishing academic work, so why not combine the standard in academia for authoring with the standard de facto for Web consumption (HTML)? This bridges the gap between academic publishing and cutting edge technology.


``Unlike programs, computers must obey the laws of physics'' \cite[1]{sicp}. This quote suggests the loose structure and nature of the software developing environment, and user interface design is far more free from structure. \TeX\ provides us with some ``laws'' to obey in order to design the output of a text and graphical language around. Hence, we can attempt to create a synthesis of a structured user interface specification (\TeX) and a structured functional specification (HTML5) to provide a publishing platform for the current and next generation. 


This project presents itself as a Sketch of what authoring the academic Web could be like, if we can take two standards bodies and combine them. It also opens up the door to cross more people over the Web authoring bridge, because not all \LaTeX\ authors know HTML5.


That's not to say people shouldn't learn to program, but some should still be able to express ideas digitally without having to worry about how to structure their ideas. That was the beauty of \TeX\ and \LaTeX, they provided a means to create beautiful published documents. The Art is where we can blend these two standards bodies; contributions like MathJAX, Backbone, Aura, and others can help people express their ideas by {\it providing higher levels of abstraction so the authors don't have to worry about the mechanisms by which the technology is rendering their works}. It is in these environments when people can express themselves freely. 


What is the Assembly Language of Digital Publishing?

Just as it became important to author textbooks near the end of the $19^{th}$ century, in the $21^{st}$ century we've seen it's become important to program. More and more students are learning to program, but not everyone is a programmer, just like everyone wasn't an author in the $19^{th}$ century. Programmers are like the modern authors during an era when computer literacy is increasing. However, if we can use programming to enable some non-programmers to communicate technical ideas, then we can enable a larger population of ``modern'' authors.


What about \emph{interactive} authorship? 


History has told us about how the democratization of knowledge has been inhibited by literacy, and that it's been used over societies to exercise power and dominance over subpopulations \cite[8]{power}. How can educators make students literate if the ability to control machines is indeed the key to a new era of literacy of this century? 


As society progresses today, the amount of people who work in front of computer are increasing \cite[1]{power}. It's becoming more important in the modern world to be computer literate in general. Programming languages are built on top of languages like English, and can be used to express extremely complex ideas. If a person learns to code, perhaps the ability to express their ideas more closely to the actual concept of it in their mind can increase, or at least the number of ways they can store an idea in their mind. The analogy for the current use of the alphabet becomes like an ideogram, and programming will emulate the combination of ideograms to represent more complexity.


We speak more than words these days through technology---it's Time that software is accessible to everyone through Language, and the Web is the next big step towards this movement. But we also have to understand that it takes time, and not everyone is an ``author''. But for those who are interested, how can we bridge the gap?



\TeX\ is and has been the academic publishing standard, and HTML5 is the {\it lingua franca} of the Web. Within the unification of these two languages we can find a simple prescription---using \TeX\ for how things should ``look'' and HTML5 for how things should ``function''. \TeX\ is also closer to what most people understand as language, since it primarily uses text to write papers and books as opposed to programs---it is less abstact. Mapping a typesetting language to programming can help us build a robust online platform for documenting math and science, and one that is built to last.



Interactive experiences provide deeper learning because we use more parts of our brain, so authorship of these types of systems can catalyze the learning process. Students can learn concepts more effectively when presented with a digital textbook that provides interactive, mathematical diagrams, than compared to their dusty, scholastic counterparts.


When questioning whether or not computers are providing something positive in our lives---the computer is good. It {\it is} the future of the textbook. We {\it learn} from computers.

\begin{quotation}

Most of the time, a person sits down at her personal computer not to create, but to read, observe, study, explore, make cognitive connections, and ultimately come to an understanding. This person is not seeking to make her mark upon the world, but to rearrange her own neurons. The computer becomes a medium for asking questions, making comparisons, and drawing conclusions---that is, for learning \cite[7]{victor}.
\end{quotation}
To accelerate education, we need to first provide immersive learning experiences, and also accelerate the authorship of such interactive material. We can do the later by providing a language that expresses interactivity in a syntax that is as close to resembling mathematics as possible, to enable the common math professor to express their ideas through digital medium that their students can engage with. 


Interactive Text and Learning

The convergence of standards proves to be a viable platform for moving society forward. The result of such agreements is a conduit for human ideas.


The aggregate history of computer science, literacy, and language all seem to assemble the idea that taking advantage of {\it existing} standards is conducive to the democratization of knowledge through communication systems formed as a result of the collective system. Gutenberg's life work took existing technology of the press and printing to create a movable type system that revolutionized literacy and education. The infrastructure of the Internet and the agreed standard of TCP/IP enabled Tim Berners-Lee to write HTTP, spawning the World Wide Web, which has exploded information across our Earth and made us a more global society in general.


Ideograms have metamorphosed into alphabets and languages, which have transformed into written words in books and now travel through the Internet as bits that make up 1's and 0's. The Information Age is here, and we can use computers for something positive: learning. 


Computers have shown to be a positive part of our civilization, and history may be telling us that command of the computer is the future of literacy. In the future, end user programming will become more important. People will go from coding for others to coding for themselves---this is how we can \emph{truly} minimize the gulf of execution. 


The expert in a given field may not be able to fully express their ideas if they must hire a developer or programmer, thus providing an interface to creating interactive environments through a language that they already use can close this gap, enabling the most optimal experiences for students learning. 


\begin{quotation}
Alternately, a designer can draw a series of mockups, snapshots of how the graphic should look for various data sets, and present these to an engineer along with a verbal description of what they mean. The engineer, who is skilled in manipulating textual abstractions, then implements the behavior with a programming language. This results in ridiculously large feedback loops—--seeing the effect of a change might take a day instead of a second. It involves coordination and communication between at least two people, and requires that the designer justify herself---she must convince the engineer and possibly layers of management that each change is worth the engineer’s time. This is no environment for creative exploration \cite[43]{victor}
\end{quotation}
It's like letting somebody build a robot to do something for you, it's kind of clunky if you could just do it yourself! People should be writing their own software. Today's Web feeds and interfaces are the metastable relation between the next interfaces created by non-web-developers with written and spoken languages.


Until then, we can use current standards as a bridge until we reach new technological horizons. It is the Art that allows us to bridge the gap for those that are interested in \TeX\ and \LaTeX, and that is the expression which this project strives. 


This platform is not a silver bullet, but it's a first step toward looking at our history to see what worked---combining standards. There are systems for graphics creation that are more powerful, but not as powerful in the audience they can reach as a result of the interface they provide. It's important to indoctrinate our society towards a new literacy, and guide them using small steps, instead of taking giant leaps where only a portion of society is literate. 


The future of education will be affected by the future of programming and technology---the work done in the late 1950's and early 1960's set the stage for contributions that have shaped the technology timeline today. {\it What we build today will be used by our children tomorrow}. As ubiquitous computing pushes forward (e.g. when printed electronics are embedded in milk cartons and a kid can buy a Popsicle from the ice cream truck with his glasses), we need to find what will push us further. 


In the end, the crucial point is that computers push us far beyond what we were ever capable of before, and will continue to do so. Using technology to create {\it increased levels of abstraction} for the documentation of science can push education and society forward. Higher-level learning will result in a smarter society. Using knowledge from aggregate sciences in the creation of supplemental learning tools can build positive foundations for our future's successful and meaningful experiences in higher education.


12 Conclusion